"All fixtures fixtures and tile should be white or neutral, not only because they make the room look bigger, but because they are not likely to become dated. Put your color and other decorating in towels, paint and accessories that are easy and cheap to update. Otherwise - remember pink bathrooms? - you are likely to duplicate that stupidity with a different color. The au courant gotta-have trendy color of today is the avocado green and harvest gold of tomorrow." LOL - well THAT philosophy would certainly eliminate a good portion of the stunning bathrooms in this forum. I really could care less that my sea blend glass tile wall in my otherwise all botticino bathroom may someday be someone elses avocado green and gold - I love it and get a little thrill every single time I look at it. If you are more comfortable with neutral - by all means go with it - we all have different taste. I have seen plenty of beautiful neutral bathrooms. I just need to have my color ;-)

I just finished a very small bathroom for my teen daughter. I wanted to make the space feel bigger, so I really wished I could use a pedestal sink- but I knew she needed WAY more storage than that. The bathroom had an over-the-toilet cabinet previously, and I agree with John- it made the room feel SO much bigger when we removed it!!! I highly recommend finding other storage options. A recessed medicine cabinet type of thing over the toilet would be great. In fact, try to utilize any wall space this way. It is a great way to get extra storage without making the room feel teeny. For the sink, we modified an antique dresser. Two things about this help make the room feel bigger: one is that it is on legs, rather than going all the way to the floor like a traditional bathroom vanity. I know it doesn't seem like it, but simply seeing the floor space underneath makes you feel like the room is much bigger. Also, the dresser is narrower than a standard bathroom vanity. (If you look hard enough you can find narrow pre-made vanities. Some of Ikea's for instance are narrow- and also on legs!!) Having all those drawers in the vanity is AWESOME for storage!!! So much better than the standard vanities with just a couple of cabinet doors. Drawers allow you to organize all the little bits and stuff that bathrooms contain. It will also help the room feel bigger if you choose a recessed rather than surface-mount vanity. Timeless materials, in my opinion, are white subway tiles (or similar- we used 4x4s in a brick pattern to save money), chrome fixtures (not ORB!), white hexagonal floor tile, neutral colors (add color with easily changeable accessories, art, towels.) I'd also recommend adding niches in the shower for all the shamppos and stuff, as well as using a showerhead on a slider bar so you can adjust the height as she grows :) At the bottom of this post is a link to my post about my daughter's bathroom, if you want to see more. Here are a couple pics: and here are some pics of between-the-studs storage, both homemade and store-bought: Here is a link that might be useful: staceyneil's daughter's bathroom budget DIY

I thought you were going to be asking about fixture and pulls (handles) finishes. I would say "yes" you can mix metals. As for a dark brown vanity and a white stack of shelves and counter, I'm not sure but maybe since you'd have the white marble top on the dark wood. People mix perimeter cabs and islands in the kitchen and it looks great. Seems like there's not much you "shouldn't" do these days. What's your first impression? Mine would be to have it match, but that's just me. It's been a real struggle to get over my matchy and symmetrical self :o Monica

Beekeeperswife - I noticed the photo (FABULOUS) before seeing to whom it belonged and when I saw it was you, it made all the sense in the world. I still LOVE the kitchen you did that was featured everywhere - the backsplash is still my dream backsplash. And your use of Wasabi is the reason I have BM Wasabi in my house. I think you moved, though, since I was last on here actively, so I will have to hunt down what you've been doing lately! I showed DH the pic of your Dark Purple bathroom - he loved it and said "You could do that!". Sure....like that's not time-consuming. I would definitely consider doing that in a smaller space. Gorgeous! always1stepbehind - I love that kids don't have the same fears us "oldies" do when it comes to color! Looks like your DD made a great, lively choice! robotropolis - I'm not afraid of color as much as I am afraid of picking the "neon" shade - which has happened during the 1st year we lived in our current house. My sitting room and kitchen are currently painted BM Dark Salmon - which looks fantastic during the day - it's like being nestled in a bowl of ripe tomatoes - but at night? Holy smokes! It's electric dark orange and I HATE it. Same thing happened in our living room. I was trying to bring shades of California into our Texas home (transplants) and went with BM Opal Essence and Blue Seafoam. Toothpaste and aquarium. We felt like we were living in an aquarium. I thought the room could carry it off but even the south/southwest facing family room couldn't handle it. I finally did the family room and entry in BM Rattan and I really like it. My piano studio is in Kendall Charcoal (it was a can that a BM customer never picked up; the sold it to me for 1/2 the price!) and Concord Ivory. I'm planning on re-doing the kitchen (which opens to Rattan) and the sitting area (which opens to entry) in BM Papaya. I'm going for a lot more neutral than I'm use to but I like it. DD's room is Valspar Beet and BM Passion Pink and my son's room is in BM Midnight Navy and Patriot White (space theme). Still up in the air are the kid/guest bathroom and the mastersuite. My inclination for the kids bathroom was towards bright but I don't want to have to re-do a bathroom if it's neon again plus, now that I saw the glass mosaic tile frame around the bathroom, I'm thinking of doing that which probably changes my whole color scheme. Someone asked what was in the kids bathroom; I don't have a picture of it before I started making all the paint samples but it's basically always1stepbehind 's bathroom without the pretty touches: builder grade white tile around the tub, those hideous Hollywood dressing table lights above and builder grade sink/cabinet painted sorta-white (house built in 2000). Painted in Band-Aid pink with old world globe wall paper below imaginary chair rail line. Yes...it's as bad as it sounds. :) Runningplace - thanks! Family is good. Things never seem to go as planned when you (me) are the caretaker to several people in the family. But that's life! Our floor tile is sort of an adobe look which doesn't got with anything at all in the house! The previous owner must have gotten it on clearance before they put the house on the market. You know - thanks for writing about your tile - it made me think about my floor and now I'm wondering if I need to go with what I know best - Spanish Colonial style (we moved from San Diego/Santa Barbara where I learned so much about that style especially when we bought our 1929 Spanish Revival cottage there). Do you have a pic of your deep blue floor tile? AnnieDeighnaugh - your guest room is lovely! It looks like something about of a very high-end, old world hotel. I love the blues with the creamy yellow. nosoccermom - I haven't had a chance to get back to my BM store but will definitely be picking up a swatch of Mellow yellow. Sunflowers and Southern France is definitely a nice visual. JDez - SW Window Pane is such a pretty color! Tomatofreak - I'd love to see your tile surround. It sounds like something you can definitely work with! Well...off to teach. I'll be back!